Published: April 08, 2009 03:05 pm         

Memorial recognizes National Healthcare Decisions Day

CHATTANOOGA —�Memorial Health Care System, along with other national, state and community organizations, are leading a massive effort to highlight the importance of advance healthcare decision-making—an effort that has culminated in the formal designation of April 16, 2009 as National Healthcare Decisions Day (NHDD). As a participating organization, Memorial is providing information and tools for the public to talk about their wishes with family, friends and healthcare providers, and execute written advance directives (healthcare power of attorney and living will) in accordance with Tennessee state laws.

Specifically, on Monday, April 13, from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m., Memorial is welcoming the public in the Memorial Hospital Community Rooms, with education, free information about advance care planning and advance directive forms.

“As a result of National Healthcare Decisions Day, many more people in our community can be expected to have thoughtful conversations about their healthcare decisions and complete reliable advance directives to make their wishes known,” said Sister Eileen Wrobleski, C.S.C., senior vice president of Mission Integration. “Fewer families and healthcare providers will have to struggle with making difficult healthcare decisions in the absence of guidance from the patient, and healthcare providers and facilities will be better equipped to address advance healthcare planning issues before a crisis and be better able to honor patient wishes when the time comes to do so.”

For more information about National Healthcare Decision Day, please visit HYPERLINK "http://www.nationalhealthcaredecisionsday.org"www.nationalhealthcaredecisionsday.org or HYPERLINK "http://health.state.tn.us/AdvanceDirectives/index.htm" http://health.state.tn.us/AdvanceDirectives/index.htm



Memorial Health Care System is a not-for-profit, faith-based healthcare organization. Founded by the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth and strengthened as part of Catholic Health Initiatives, it offers a continuum of care including preventative, primary and acute hospital care, as well as cancer and cardiac care, orthopedic and rehabilitation services. Memorial is a regional referral center of choice with 4,000 associates and more than 700 affiliated physicians providing health care throughout Southeast Tennessee and North Georgia.� Memorial Health Care System is recognized as one of the nation's 100 Top Hospitals� by Thomson Reuters, the health care industry's leading source of information on hospital quality. To learn more, visit HYPERLINK "http://www.memorial.org/" \o "http://www.memorial.org/" www.memorial.org.

     

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